In this landmark book, Daniel Crofts examines a little-known
episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s life: his
role as the “Great Emancipator.” Lincoln always hated slavery, but he
also believed it to be legal where it already existed, and he never
imagined fighting a war to end it. In 1861, as part of a
last-ditch effort to preserve the Union and prevent war, the new
president even offered to accept a constitutional amendment that barred
Congress from interfering with slavery in the slave states. Lincoln made
this key overture in his first inaugural address.

Crofts
unearths the hidden history and political maneuvering behind the
stillborn attempt to enact this amendment, the polar opposite of the
actual Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 that ended slavery. This compelling
book sheds light on an overlooked element of Lincoln’s statecraft and
presents a relentlessly honest portrayal of America’s most admired
president. Crofts rejects the view advanced by some Lincoln scholars
that the wartime momentum toward emancipation originated well before the
first shots were fired. Lincoln did indeed become the “Great
Emancipator,” but he had no such intention when he first took office.
Only amid the crucible of combat did the war to save the Union become a
war for freedom.